Category Archives: Movies

Forgotten Films: The Thing From Another World (1951)

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The Thing From Another World: the first and arguably the best

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 147th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

As mentioned in the previous column, it is time to come to The Thing From Another World. I don’t know if this is “forgotten.” Certainly when I was in college or earlier, it was quite well known. But tastes have changed over the years and the two re-makes (both called The Thing) are much better known, and this one has fallen by the wayside.

But I have a backstory with this film. While in college around 1973, I worked a variety of jobs. At one of them I worked with a very nice college student named Marcia. We went out a few times but nothing really clicked. She knew I liked science fiction, and one day she told me about the science fiction club at the University of Texas. They were making a trip to Enchanted Rock on the upcoming Sunday. Since I worked retail, she suggested I might go. The flyer she saw said everyone was welcome.

That Sunday, I showed up and met some of the best friends I ever had. Among them were Bill Wallace, Dianne Kraft, Bud Simons, Bruce Sterling and more (my memories have faded quite a bit since then). We all made the trip and had a great time and some great food at the Salt Lick afterwards.

I was invited to some more events they had and became a member. Not too much later, we all decided to attend AggieCon 4. The guests were Jack Williamson, Chad Oliver and fan guest Bob Vardeman. This weekend changed my life! Seriously! It was my first SF convention (or first convention of any sort, other than high school Math and German conferences, which had only day meetings and I attended as part of school functions). Again, I met many more interesting people and had the time of my life!

Among the things that happened there were my first trip to a dealer’s room and first collectible SF purchases, which included an old Famous Fantastic Mysteries pulp, an Arthur C. Clarke galley and a paperback. I saw my first Arkham House books (though Bill Wallace would later show me his collection, which was virtually complete at that point and was later completed). And I found the film room.

I saw Barbarella on a big screen. Not the big screen at Texas A&M in Rudder Tower (that was not complete then, but I still saw the movie a big screen). There was a war film called The Best of Enemies, if I recall correctly and I am really not sure about this one. And someone brought in a bootleg 16mm copy of The Thing From Another World.

I had read the John W. Campbell story “Who Goes There” prior to this, and I knew it had been filmed, but I had never seen it. It was late at night, so no questions about the origin of the print would be asked. But I sat there with other fans and new friends and watched a glorious film.

The story is pretty basic. A team of scientists led by Doctor Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) see something crash land near their station and request that the military send some troops to check it out. Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) arrives with a few men and a bored newspaper reporter, Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer). Carrington shows the group photographs that prove something odd has happened and, using science, they triangulate where the crash took place.

On the snow they see strange markings and an area of fused ice which is different from their surroundings. Through the ice, they see a craft, and using the men, determine that it is large and circular. They have found a flying saucer. The men try to use thermite charges to deice the object but that backfires and the saucer is destroyed. A Geiger counter reveals a radioactive presence, and a large figure (presumably the pilot of the craft) is found encased within a block of ice.

Not sure what else to do, they return to the scientific base. Weather prevents them from returning to Anchorage, where they have more facilities. Carrington wants to see what is in the ice, but Hendry is opposed to fooling with something they do not understand. Tension arises at the base and the men form sides. Dr. Carrington’s assistant/secretary/recorder Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) knew Hendry previously and is interested in seeing him some more.

And this wouldn’t be a good film if accidents did not happen. The block of ice thaws and the “thing” (James Arness – Marshall Matt Dillon, his ownself) escapes. As alien attacks the group, they are able to escape and it is sent outside into the way sub-zero storm where it encounters sled dogs. They later find that the dogs have removed an arm from the beast. Carrington and the scientists examine it and find that the creature is not even an animal. It is a vegetable (an intelligent carrot).

While others try to find the creature and protect the group, Dr. Carrington begins some experimentation and finds out the thing thrives and regenerates with human plasma. There follows a long discussion on what the duties of a scientist are in such a threatening situation like this as opposed to the military point of view. Then the creature begins sabotaging the heating system and everyone sees that they must work together to survive.

I’ll let you watch it (if you have not done so before) to see how they escape. I really enjoyed this film. I like it more than the two color John Carpenter films which are both very good horror films. This one is an atmospheric, moody piece with slow building suspense as opposed to the action effects-reliant later films. All are good. But this is my favorite.

The film is available from the usual outlets online and is not very expensive. If you have not seen it (or it’s been a while) you might check it out again. If your only exposure via John Carpenter, give this one a try.

But, as always, your tastes and my tastes are probably different, and your mileage may vary.

Oh, yeah, “Watch the skies!”

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Haunting Question: What’s your favorite holiday-themed sf/fantasy/horror

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Alex Ross' Justice League Christmas was one contributor's holiday fave.

From Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol to the recently released horror movie Krampus, the holiday season has long been a fertile source of material for creators of the fantastic.

Of course, many of us have favorite holiday-themed sf, fantasy and horror we turn to this time of year. As I posted on Monday, mine’s “The Chimney,” a 1975 short story by Ramsey Campbell that zeros in on childhood fears with chilling alacrity.

I decided to put the question to other authors and fans to see what books, stories, comics, movies and TV episodes bring them holiday cheer. While the results include a number of tried-and-true classics, many were new to me. I hope the list holds some surprises for you as well.

Happy holidays — and keep reading!

Patrice Sarath: Patrice Sarath is an author and editor living in Austin, Texas. Her novels include the fantasy series, Books of the Gordath (Gordath Wood, Red Gold Bridge and The Crow God’s Girl) and the romance The Unexpected Miss Bennet. She has been published by Penguin in the US and Robert Hale Ltd. in the UK. She is the author of numerous short stories that have appeared in magazines and anthologies.

The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe when Narnia is under the White Witch’s thrall, and it’s always winter and never Christmas. I grew up in New England and used to go skating on a small pond in the woods, about a mile hike from the house. In the winter the pond would freeze and you could skate in and out among the trees, and the snow lay in billows on the ground. The only thing missing was a lamppost.

John Picacio: John Picacio is a two-time Hugo Award-winning illustrator of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His works have illustrated the covers of books by Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Dan Simmons, Joe R. Lansdale, Jeffrey Ford, Frederik Pohl, James Tiptree, Jr., Mark Chadbourn and many more.

DC Comics’ Justice League of America at Christmas / Artwork by Alex Ross. I’m not sure where this Alex Ross artwork first appeared, but it’s one of my favorite things he’s ever done. He’s illustrated more epic pieces, but I love the compact storytelling here. It’s Ross doing Norman Rockwell, and he’s doing it well. The circular composition moves your eye through the characters’ interactions. I’m not sure what Aquaman’s problem is, but he’s not the star here. Batman frames the composition and his outsider view tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about that character in one glance. Factor in his origin story and the image tugs your heart strings a bit — or at least mine. Even better yet — add in the way Superman is inviting him to join the merriment. It’s a hinge moment, framed by that mullion that cuts across the circle. Your imagination plays out whether Batman pops in for some eggnog or slips back into the shadows, spending another Christmas Eve bereft and alone atop a Gotham skyscraper.

A Christmas Carol scored high for several contributors — both in written and celluloid form.

Renee Babcock: Renee Babcock is an avid reader who has been active in Texas fandom since 1999. She has chaired or co-chaired 4 ArmadilloCons, was the co-chair of the 2006 World Fantasy in Austin, and is the co-Chair of the 2017 World Fantsy to be held in San Antonio. She’s also currently on the Board of Directors of FACT, Inc.

I love the Dr. Who A Christmas Carol. I love the story for it’s theme of redemption, and this adaption is so wonderful, with its use of music, its pathos, and the joyful ending for him. For some reason I really connect with this adaptation on an emotional level.

Don Webb: Don Webb has written horror, science fiction and mysteries professionally since 1986. He was born in a hospital that was on Route 66. He has only been in one documentary about weapons grade plutonium (Youtube it: Plutonium Circus).

Ramsey Campbell’s “Christmas Present” is an unending grind. It begins harsh — just gets grimier. This shouldn’t work in a tale, but in Campbell’s masterful hands it does.

Nicky Drayden: Nicky Drayden is a Systems Analyst who dabbles in prose when she’s not buried in code. She resides in Austin, Texas where being weird is highly encouraged, if not required.

The Stupidest Angel has to be my go-to Christmas themed Horror-Comedy. I ran across it while browsing at Half Price Books, saw the title and the cute image on the cover, and was like “I need to read this!” It was my first introduction to Christopher Moore, and he has me hooked. What’s more fun than an angel who is so absolutely horrible at his job that he accidentally raises zombies and causes a Christmas party massacre? And I have to note, while we’re on the subject of Christopher Moore, Lamb is one of my all-time favorite reads, holiday themed or not. It chronicles the early life of Jesus as told by his best friend Biff. Not exactly genre, but if you ever thought the Bible could be spiced up by a generous helping of hilarity and sprinkling f-bombs on every other page, then this one is for you! Plus you get to find out what the H in “Jesus H. Christ” stands for.

Lee Thomas: Lee Thomas is the Lambda Literary Award and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of more than 20 books, including The Dust of Wonderland, In the Closet, Under the Bed, The German, Torn, Ash Street, Like Light for Flies and Butcher’s Road. Writing as Thomas Pendleton and Dallas Reed, he is the author of the novels Mason, Shimmer and The Calling from HarperTeen. He is also the co-author (with Stefan Petrucha) of the Wicked Dead series of books for young adults.

Every couple of years as Christmas approaches, I revisit Peter Straub’s Ghost Story. Though not technically a holiday-themed novel, the contemporary timeline of the book spans the holiday season. Brief scenes revealing the behavior of Milburn’s townsfolk in the days leading up to Christmas emphasize the desperation and claustrophobia of an isolated populace under siege by supernatural forces. The book is a wonderful read any time of the year, but particularly so when the nights are long and cold.

Some like their holiday-themed lit darker than others, and Straub’s Ghost Story is very dark indeed.

Patrick Sullivan: Patrick Sullivan is a published short story author. A screenwriter who has been a finalist in AFF and Final Draft competitions, semi-finalist in many more. An abuser of software. A martial artist. A fanboy who has met Harlan Ellison several times and has not been yelled at once.

The first movie that comes to mind besides the obvious Gremlins, which is far darker than people might remember, is Rare Exports. First, Rare Exports is a Spielbergian horror/kids adventure set in Lapland, so it isn’t something you’ve possibly seen before. Second, it is satisfying and has a real sense of joy to it. The filmmakers clearly had a good time which makes it so fun for the audience.

Lawrence Person: Lawrence Person is a science fiction writer living in Austin, Texas, and owner of Lame Excuse Books.

I think I’m going to have to go with Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star.” Which is ironic, since it’s more an anti-Christmas story. But nothing else has stuck in my memory nearly as well, with a true gut-punch in the final line.

Benjamin Cartwright: Benjamin Cartwright lives in Spokane, WA. His writing has appeared in Sentence, The Stinging Fly, Midwestern Gothic, Prick of the Spindle, and other fine places. He teaches at Spokane Falls Community College, though his past haunts include Tianjin (China), Topeka (Kansas), Lawrence (Kansas), Moscow (Idaho) and the underside of various railroad bridges.

Nothing recreates my abject, early-childhood terror of Santa Claus quite like the “Xmas Story” episode of Futurama. What strikes me, on re-watching the episode for about the 1,000th time this year, is how plausible it all still seems. Of course a robotic Santa Claus would turn murderous because of faulty programming. Of course the human population of the future would live in fear. The movie poster for Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) I saw when I was seven created the nefarious Santa of my imagination, but the creators of Futurama gave it its best, most memorable, tangible form. Also, I love that John Goodman does the voice for the robotic Santa Claus. Ever since Barton Fink, his voice has given me chills when he’s playing an unhinged character.

The Stupidest Angel was a new one on me.

Scott A. Cupp: Scott A. Cupp is a writer from San Antonio who has been associated with the science fiction community for more than 40 years. He has been a regular reviewer at Mystery Scene magazine, where he reviewed western and horror novels, and at Missions Unknown blog, where he did columns on Forgotten Books and Forgotten Films. His most recent fiction, “Monikins of the Montgolfiers,” appeared in July 2015 in Story Emporium magazine.

This was a lot harder to answer than I initially thought. Would I go with music? I have bad memories of hearing the Bing Crosby Christmas album for many listens with my folks. Nope! Not going to be it. How about a film? I saw White Christmas when I was eight and loved it but that’s not going to be it. Other films – I could go all geek and say it isn’t Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off of Nakatomi Towers. Good choice or even the second Die Hard is also a Christmas film, and it has the wonderful scene where Bonnie Bedelia zaps William Atherton on the plane. Or I could talk about Santa Claus vs. the Martians. But, let’s not. How about comics? There’s the Batman story “Santa Claus: Wanted Dead or Alive,” which featured Frank Miller’s first Batman. No, that’s a little schmaltzy. How about the classics “Christmas on Bear Mountain,” which introduced the world to Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge McDuck. That’s pretty good. Or even the follow-up, “A Christmas for Shacktown,” which has great heart. Good choices both. But how about in the SF world? Connie Willis has done several great Christmas pieces. But, after much thought, it can only be Mr. Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The original Scrooge finds the spirits of Christmas in a great ghost story that is so well done that everyone knows the story and still watches it. Instantly adaptable to whatever universe you work it into – the Muppets, Mr. Magoo, every cartoon or drama ever! “Marley was dead, to begin with!” Some of the most famous words ever written. And powerful too. So, for Christmas, go to the Dickens.

Joe McKinney: Joe McKinney, a two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, is an author in many genres, including horror, zombie apocalypse tales, ghost stories, virus thrillers, crime and science fiction. He has written 17 novels, developed two collections of short stories, created a tale for a comic book, and been both published in and edited numerous anthologies.

Well, I was going to say Die Hard, but you went and specified horror, science fiction or fantasy. Grrrr. I guess my second favorite would be a toss up between Henry James’ Turn of the Screw and the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. Of the two, A Christmas Carol is obviously a Christmas themed tale, while Turn of the Screw is simply a frame story told on Christmas Eve, so I guess A Christmas Carol would have to win out. There have been lots of fine versions of the Charles Dickens classic, but George C. Scott brings is basically the human version of Grumpy Cat, and his screen presence is just perfect for the part of Scrooge. Also, and this is really what makes it, Scott is able to convey the essence of Scrooge’s redemption. He brings to life the fact that the book is not so much about fear of the grave, but fear that the heart may never love again. That’s why I like that version of the story so much.

Eugene Fischer: Eugene Fischer is a writer living in Austin, Texas. His latest novella, “The New Mother,” was named a best story of the year by io9, and has been optioned for television by Plan B Entertainment.

The two things that come to mind for me are both short stories. One is “Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R.” by Harlan Ellison, a late 60s superspy romp that happens to star Kris Kringle as the free world’s most deadly secret agent. The other is “In The Late Decemeber” by Greg van Eekhout, a story that takes the grand human tradition of celebrating our resilience in the face of a long, cold winter to its logical conclusion by showing Santa’s struggle to spread cheer in an old, tired universe consumed by entropy.

 

Forgotten Films: Between Two Worlds (1944)

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Between Two Worlds is quite a different film from The Thing From Another World.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 146th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

I really enjoy doing these columns and seeing the variety of films that I have enjoyed or, in some cases, not enjoyed. Every now and again I stumble across a film that I have never heard of but catches my interest. This week I had intended to review The Thing From Another World and give some background story about it and me. But after watching it the other night, I decided to go to sleep rather than immediately put my thoughts down on the computer.

The next morning I got up and as I scanned the channel guides, I ran across this film Beyond Two Worlds. I read the brief synopsis and looked at the cast. I was sold on it. I was already five minutes into the broadcast, but I figured I could catch up with it pretty fast.

I am so glad I did. First let’s look at the cast. The leads are Paul Henreid as Henry Bergner and Eleanor Parker as his wife Anne. That’s a pretty decent start. I saw John Garfield listed as Tom Prior, Edmund Gwenn as Scrubby the steward, and Sydney Greenstreet as Tim Thompson. The pairing of Henreid and Greenstreet just a year after Casablanca got my interest up. And there was a score from Eric Wolfgang Korngold, which immediately makes any film worth watching.

The characters in Between Two Worlds try to unravel the mystery of how they ended up together on a ship at sea.

Henry Bergner is an Austrian pianist turned soldier living in London. His hands are injured and he can no longer play. He and Ann want to get to America but are having trouble securing exit visas. (Where have I heard something like that before?) Distraught, he leaves the diplomatic office and returns home, where he seals the window and plays his favorite record.

Ann has missed Henry at the office but sees a group of people getting their documents and leaving. As they leave, there is an air raid and the fleeing car suffers a direct hit. Everyone is killed instantly. She returns to their flat to find Henry in the act of suicide and refuses to leave him. They drift off.

Suddenly they are on a large ship with a group of people, mingling in the bar. They don’t recall how they got there nor does anyone else. The friendly steward helps people with drinks and conversation. The film sort of becomes a Grant Hotel at sea. You have the business executive Mr. Lingley (George Coulouris), the minister (Dennis King), the upper class couple who don’t know why they have to associate with the riffraff (Isobel Elson and Gilbert Emory), the journalist (Garfield), the actress (Faye Emerson), the housekeeper (Sara Allgood) and the sailor (George Tobias).

Eventually, Ann realizes that she has seen these people before. They were the ones in the vehicle hit by the bomb. Suddenly both she and Henry remember that they were in the process of dying just moments earlier. They are on a ship between two worlds – sailing to Heaven and to Hell.

They realize that none of the others knows what is happening. The steward asks them to let everyone relax and enjoy the ride for the moment and not bring it up their conclusion. But there is tension in the room. Prior, the journalist is washed up and unemployed, partly due to a series of articles he did on Lingley, who is a capitalist at all costs and could be a President of the I’m for Me First party. He gets what he wants no matter what the cost. The Reverend is off on a trip to begin a new series of work for the betterment of his church. The actress is hanging with Prior, but Lingley is making a play. The sailor has just gotten word that he has become a new father. He’s heading home after having three ships torpedoed beneath him.

Prior overhears Henry and Ann and tells everyone that they are dead. The steward reluctantly confirms this. When asked what happens next, he tells everyone that some the Examiner will be there to… examine them. The Examiner turns out to be the Reverent Tim Thompson, an old colleague of the minister. Together they examine each of the passengers one at a time to determine their final destination.

I’m not going to go into the further details, but it goes much as you would expect, until it comes down to Henry and Ann, who are the last to be examined. As a suicide, Henry presents a problem to them. Heaven is not his destination, but it is for Ann who did not actively pursue that course.

I thought this was a fine film. Apparently it is based on a 1924 play titled Outward Bound, which starred Leslie Howard. It was filmed in 1930. In the original play and film version, the audience did not know the passengers were dead until the end of the performance. Leonard Maltin in his Movie Guide liked Outward Bound better than Between Two Worlds. I will have to be on the lookout for that one now.

So I’ll be back next week with The Thing From Another World, unless fate intervenes.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Films: Porco Rosso (1992)

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By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 145th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

It is no secret that I like the anime films of Hiyao Miyazaki. Back in 2011 I reviewed Nasicaa and had nice things to say about that. So this week, I decided I needed to return to Miyazaki’s vision of the world. My friend, Sam Hudson, gave me the DVD of this film some time ago, but I never quite got around to watching it. This happens far too often. He had previously lent us the Canadian production of George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra starring Christopher Plummer. He had been by the house of Thanksgiving, so we watched it then and I was able to return it to him.

Now, back to Porco Rosso. I’m not sure why I had not watched it. It hit several of my hot spots – Miyazaki, air pirates, animated films and true fun. So, Sam, I publicly apologize. I should have watched this sooner and credited you for making it happen.

Porco Rosso is the story of Marco (voiced by Michael Keaton in the English language version), a World War I flying ace for Italy, who is the last of his old squadron. His best friend died in their final battle just two days after marrying the lovely Gina. During the battle, he sees the ghosts of various pilots and planes heading into the light. He tries to follow them but is rendered unconscious. When he awakens, he finds all the others gone and he has changed. When he sees his reflection, he finds that he has been given the face of a pig. Marco is gone; enter Porco Rosso, the Crimson Pig. He is a loner who works as a bounty hunter stopping air pirates working the Mediterranean Sea. He fights the sea planes, never killing, but disabling planes for fees from the ship owners.

And he is very good at what he does. So much so that the pirates hire an American pilot Donald Curtis (Cary Elwes) to bring Porco down. Curtis has met them at the Hotel Adriano, run by Marco’s longtime friend and the widow of his best friend, Gina (Susan Egan). Curtis has an interest in Gina but is upset that she is more interested in Marco. In a dogfight, Porco loses to Curtis, but manages to survive and bring most of his plane home.

He takes the plane to Milan and his old mechanic Piccolo (David Ogden Stiers). Marco is a wanted man in Italy, so he is taking a serious chance. Piccolo’s sons are all gone into the Italian military, but he has a secret weapon. His granddaughter Fio (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is an engineer and has some radical plans for the new plane. Marco does not have enough money but eventually allows Piccolo and Fio to build the plane. Since all his sons are gone, he recruits all the women in the extended family to build the plane.

Eventually, Marco and Fio have to escape before full testing because the secret police are coming. Marco finds all the pirates waiting for him at his “secret” island lair. Eventually, though Fio’s negotiation, Marco and Curtis agree to a duel. If Curtis wins, he will marry Fio. If Marco wins, Curtis will pay off the plane’s debt.

There’s quite a bit more to the story, but that’s the basic plot. There’s lots of fun, some weird Japanese humor and lots of brilliant vistas and aerial combat. I don’t know if Neal Barrett Jr. ever saw this, but I know he would have loved it. He was a major fan of World War I aircraft and the fabulous aviation pulps of the period. I could not help but think of him as I watched this film. He’s been gone nearly two years, and it seems I think of him almost daily.

I had a great time with this film and I think if you like anime, aviation pulps or fun stories you will also. The film is available, as are most of Miyazaki’s, through Disney, who released the version I saw. They should be readily available from the usual online sources.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Films: The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)

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The Brain That Wouldn't Die: It's bad but not Plan 9 bad.

By Scott A . Cupp

This is the 144th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Sandi and I did our usual thing of having some old friends over then we went down to the Riverwalk and did the Thanksgiving buffet at the Hilton Palacio del Rio. Great food, great company and conversation, and some not-so-great football afterwards.

As we were doing all of this, I was reminded of the old Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thanksgiving Turkey marathons and remembered that I had this lovely film queued up on my DVR. Somehow when the MST3K folks showed this, I always ended up missing it, so I went in unsullied.

I got this off of Turner Classic Movies (the wonderful TCM, perhaps the greatest channel on cable). Ben Mankiewicz, one of the TCM hosts, did an introduction where he mentioned that some films are just so bad that they can achieve cult status. This is one of them.

Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers, though he was billed as Herb Evers) is a brilliant but flawed surgeon. He is assisting his father (Bruce Brighton) when the patient died. After his father gives up, Bill asks to try something on him and manages to bring the corpse back to life. Bill has been doing some experimentation on transplanting human tissue, though not through normal research channels. The hospital has been missing parts and pieces from the morgue and the elder Dr. Cortner feels that Bill has probably been committing the thefts.

Bill receives a message that there is a problem at his mountain cottage. He decides that he needs to go there and takes his lovely fiancée Jan Compton (Virginia Leith) with him. On the way, after a truly boring series of moving vehicle and traffic sign shots, there is an accident. Bill is thrown from his convertible. Dazed he returns to the burning car and finds Jan has been decapitated. He wraps the head up in his jacket and walks/staggers some distance (probably miles) to his cabin where he hooks the head up to a contraption.

He is helped with the head installation by Kurt (Anthony LaPenna, billed as Leslie Daniels. I guess nobody wanted to use their real name…). Jan wakes up and finds she is a disembodied head, sitting in a pan of liquid. She must have suffered some brain damage from oxygen deprivation during the period when she was being transported to the cabin because she just wants to die.

Bill wants to transplant her head onto a new beautiful body, because he wants a beautiful wife. So, obviously, this means going to strip clubs to find a woman he can then kill and transplant Jan’s head onto it. So we get several scenes of Bill talking up strippers, trying to determine who he can kill without anyone recognizing him or remembering him as the last one being with them.

He gets talked into judging a bathing suit contest where one of the strippers reminds him of Doris Powell (Anne Lamont) who is now only working as a photo club model who keep a portion of her face covered to hide a disfiguring scar. Great body and scarred face = potential murder victim.

Jan, meanwhile, has been talking to something — the thing that Bill and Kurt have previously experimented on — and is being held captive in a locked closet. Jan wants nothing to do with the murder/transplant and is communicating with the closet thing. As you might expect, things do not go as planned and Bill, the mad scientist, does not accomplish his murder.

The dialogue gets pretty florid or awful or both. The story was developed by Joseph Green (the director and screenplay author) and Rex Carlton (the producer). Special effects are pretty weak. The strippers are pretty. The film was originally shot under the title The Black Door according to IMDB. According to Ben Mankiewicz in his intro to the film, the original release title was going to be The Head That Wouldn’t Die and that this was not changed on some of the end credits.

The version TCM showed ran just under 70 minutes. Apparently the original release was 82 minutes which included a great deal of gore not shown in the film I saw.

It’s a bad film – maybe not Manos or Plan 9 bad, but still not good. So I’m glad I got to see it and without the MST3K dialogue, though I would like to see that now. Well, maybe not now, but sometime.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Films: The Mad Miss Manton (1938)

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The Mad Miss Manton — both the movie and the character — are full of wacky hijinks.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 143rd my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

When I was doing the Forgotten Films over at the Missions Unknown blog (RIP!), one of the things I always wanted to do was to expand the films and books I was reviewing to more than just the science fiction, fantasy and horror fields because I read in lots of different areas. I wanted to do some mystery or Western or other types of reviews. However, Missions Unknown was designed to attract readers and fans to the World Science Fiction Convention which was held in San Antonio in 2013.

That’s two years gone now and so is Missions Unknown, so I am going and doing the films and stuff I want to review. Now, that is not to say that I am abandoning the sf/f/h field, because that would be silly. They are an integral part of who I am and what I read and watch. But they are not the only things.

This week, I want to go for a screwball mystery comedy from a bygone era. Barbara Stanwyk was an actress I never really appreciated when she was alive. My first exposure to her was on the TV screen as Victoria Barkley on The Big Valley. She was an imposing presence there, but as a young teen, Linda Evans was much more appealing to me. Later, I discovered her work as a femme fatale in film noir classics such as Double Indemnity. Her comedies came into my scope much later when I found Ball of Fire and The Lady Eve. A very versatile actress, she was never one of my favorites until I first saw The Mad Miss Manton.

This is a screwball comedy that is not quite up to the standards established in Katherine Hepburn’s Bringing Up Baby, but it’s not far off those standards either. Melsa Manton (Stanwyk) is a socialite who has a history with the police involving “pranks.” Early one morning she sees a friend exiting an abandoned home owned by other people she knows. Inside, she finds a diamond pin and a dead body. She leaves the house and calls the police, who are less than pleased when they arrive and find no body. Melsa was dressed for a costume party and has left the pin in her cloak, which was left at the house. And, surprise, it’s not there when she returns.

The incident garners a front page editorial in The Daily Clarion from Peter Ames (Henry Fonda, reteaming with his The Lady Eve co-star). Melsa files a million-dollar libel suit against the paper. Ames, having never met Melsa, finds himself falling for her. Melsa and her cohort of rich, young, single gal pals go to the friend’s home and find the missing pin. They also discover the friend’s dead and stuffed into the refrigerator.

When the police refuse to come, the ladies put the body in Peter’s office and inform the rival newspaper, which makes it the front page story. Ames is clearly falling for Melsa, and she wants nothing to do with it. She’s not really sure if he is truly in love or is trying to get out of the lawsuit. Hijinks ensue and everyone is running around with no concept of due process or anything legal.

Fun is had. Ames is shot. There is deceit and laughter. There are more murders and love abounds. Lunch is had by Pat (one of the gals) who is always hungry.

I watched it again today and absolutely enjoyed it. You might check it out. It shows on TCM fairly often, as they truly adore Barbara Stanwyk and it’s not hard to see why.

Of course, you might think today’s crop of comedians that top the box office are funny. I’m talking Melissa McCarthy, Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Seth Rogen and the like. If that’s the case, there is no hope for you, so you can avoid this one, an actual funny film. Your mileage may vary too.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

 

 

Forgotten Films: Doctor Strange (2007)

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While the Benedict Cumberbatch Dr. Strange is in production, fans may want to check out this 2007 animated DVD to tide themselves over.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 142nd my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

This week, I am looking at a movie based on a comic book. Comic book movies have been around a long time. And Doctor Strange was one of my favorite books when I was growing up. I had the early issues as they appeared in Strange Tales. First it was the art of Steve Ditko over Stan Lee’s stories. Then the art went through Bill Everett, Marie Severin, Dan Adkins, Frank Brunner, Gene Colon, Marshall Rogers and others. They were all interesting artists. The writers, including Roy Thomas, Denny O’Neill and Steve Englehart, had fun too dealing with weird and alien dimensions.

As many of you know, a live action Doctor Strange film is in production with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. And there was a CBS series pilot in 1978 starring Peter Hooten as Dr. Stephen Strange, a psychiatrist turned sorcerer. But, to date, the 2007 animated Doctor Strange film with Bryce Johnson stands as the most recent adaptation available.

For this film, they go back to address the origin of Dr. Strange as presented by Lee and Ditko, with Stephen Strange as a brain surgeon with great skills and a materialistic ego. When a traffic accident damages his hands to the point he can longer handle a scalpel, he begins searching for a second or third or fiftieth opinion that his hands can be repaired and his life regained.

He eventually finds himself in Tiber searching for “the Ancient One” (voiced by Michael Yama) who accepts him as a pupil and assigns him menial tasks. And, as clichés go, it is the usual one. Strange’s attitude is “I want the world and I want it now,” which does not fit well with mystic instruction. Aiding the Ancient One are Wong, a magician and servant (voiced by Paul Nakauchi), and Mordo, second only to the Ancient One in power (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson). Mordo is a mighty mystic and powerful warrior, but the Ancient One seeks someone who wants peace not war.

Menacing Earth is the Dread Dormammu (Jonathan Adams), a being of pure evil magic from another dimension trying to break into our own. He is using the dreams of children to break through the magic bonds binding him away from our world.

The mystic elements are well portrayed in the film, which is why animation was an ideal medium for this version. The 1978 TV version lacked somewhat in the special effects budget. This version has a good sense of it, though not nearly as wild and amazing as Steve Ditko’s comic versions of the 1960’s. Those comic pages had an almost psychedelic tinge to them. And Stan Lee was never more bombastic than when writing of the Eye of Agamotto or the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth. It made his work on Thor seem like a Weekly Reader title.

The choice of the Dread Dormammu was an expected one, though I might have preferred some other characters like Nightmare and then move to Dormammu. But, since Dormammu is to Doctor Strange like Doctor Doom is to the Fantastic Four, this was not going to happen.

All in all, I liked the film. It ran about 76 minutes, which I liked. I would have liked to have seen another film in this series. This was from the period that gave us two Iron Man and two Avengers made-for-video films in the mid 2000s. They all have their moments and are worth searching out.  Copies of the DVD and Blu-Ray are readily available online for less than $10, new or used. So, if you are interested, check it out. And be ready for the 2016 live action one next year. I’ll be there early.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Films: Scared to Death (1947)

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Scared to Death marks the only time Bela Lugosi appeared in color.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 141st my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

Some of the films I watch here I have never seen prior to their magic appearance on my TV or in my DVD player. This week is one of them. (Actually all of them except one since I restarted my columns here were new to me.) I mean, I want to see things I haven’t seen and then tell you about them.

This week’s movie was part of a double film set that I got quite a while back. The film was included with a Boris Karloff film, The Snake People, but I decided to try the Bela Lugosi one first. As with most people of my generation, I first encountered Mr. Lugosi when he wore the cape and ring of Count Dracula on an afternoon movie show which frequently featured Universal horror films. There he was with that accent, talking about the children of the night.

I saw those films when I lived near Wichita Falls, Texas, and the afternoon films were hosted by some local guy called Pinto Bean. The common variety stale jokes and puns were bearable as I got to see The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolfman and, of course, Dracula. And, in 1981, when I attended the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver I met Mr. Science Fiction, Forrest J. Ackerman, who owned the Dracula crest ring. And, since he was wearing it, I got to see it. I didn’t get to wear it, but I stared at it up close and contemplated removing his finger and making a run for it. I was wearing a badge around my neck with my name on it in 36 point type, however, so I didn’t think I could get away with it. Saner thoughts prevailed.

Lugosi was not a great selector of roles. He had a few good roles, but nothing ever equaled that initial role. And, as the films Plan 9 From Outer Space and Ed Wood showed us, Lugosi lived much of his life in drug-addicted poverty.

So, on to Scared to Death. Lugosi was entering the final phase of his career when this was made. The film was from 1947 and Lugosi only made one more of any quality (1948’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). He was soon headed to the Ed Wood stable for film internment.

Scared to Death features Molly Lamont as Laura Van Ee/Laurette La Valle. A beautiful young woman, she narrates this tale from a slab at the morgue where she is the subject of an autopsy. Laura is in an unhappy marriage with Ward Van Ee (Roland Varno). The couple lives at the mansion/office of Dr. Joseph Van Ee (horror great George Zucco). Dr. Van Ee is assisted by Lilybeth (Gladys Blake) who serves as a combination nurse/receptionist/maid. Lilybeth is hounded by lovesick moron Bill Raymond (Nat Pendleton), a former homicide detective with the IQ of a lightbulb and the character of one of the Dead End Kids. Dr. Van Ee’s cousin, Professor Leonide (Lugosi), shows up with a deaf mute midget, Indigo (Angelo Rossito).

Leonide is a former vaudeville hypnotist who was a former inmate at the sanitarium that would become Dr. Van Ee’s mansion. Rumor has it there are hidden passages that he was able to create without anyone noticing.

Laura is being threatened by someone who has sent her a mannequin head with her face. And there is a floating blue head (it’s supposed to be green, but it’s actually blue). And there’s a nosy reporter, Terry Lee (Douglas Fowler), with a dumb blonde girl friend, Joyce (Jane Cornell).

The plot is convoluted and not very good. The comic relief is not very funny. The flashbacks from the corpse are muddled and not very well handled. There are two saving graces to the film. At 65 minutes, it is short. And, according to the documentation of the DVD box, this is the only color film with Lugosi. All my memories of Bela are grainy black-and-white. So that excuses some of the issues.

Don’t go out of your way to find this one. The interesting things about it aren’t. I’m hoping the Karloff film is better, but I know it is also from late in Karloff’s career and I have my doubts there also.

But, your mileage may vary. As for me, I’ll watch Dracula or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

Forgotten Films: The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)

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You know a movie's bad when it makes Christopher Lee boring.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 140th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

We once again return to Fu Manchu for a Forgotten Film. Previously, I have reviewed The Blood of Fu Manchu (Forgotten Film 10) and the serial adventure Drums of Fu Manchu (Forgotten Film 33), so it has been a while since I returned to the famed mastermind of all evil.

Fu Manchu is, as you all should know, the creation of Arthur Sarsfield Ward writing as Sax Rohmer in 1911. He appeared in 14 books (13 novels and one collection) from Rohmer, then two from Rohmer’s former assistant Cay Van Ash, and three from William Patrick Maynard. I’ve read most of the Rohmer and the two Van Ash novels which I enjoyed. I have not tried the Maynard, though I intend to one day.

There have been 12 movie adaptations and one spoof with Peter Sellers. Two of these films are silent British productions I have never seen. The most famous Fu Manchu film is probably The Mask of Fu Manchu starring Boris Karloff as the sinister doctor and Myra Loy (!!) as his daughter. The film was suppressed for many years as it had many objectionable issues such as Fu inciting a crowd of rabble to ”Kill the white man and take his women!” Also casting a British actor as an Asian character was not well received here nor in the two films where the famous Swedish actor Warner Oland also portrayed Dr. Fu Manchu. Oland also portrayed Charlie Chan in films.

So, let’s get to this one. This is the fifth (and final) time Christopher Lee sat in the role. And this time he had director Jess Franco at the helm. There was a time when Jess Franco did good work. This wasn’t one of them. Fu Manchu has a formula where he can turn large quantities of water into ice. He does this, turning a Caribbean cruise into a rerun of Titanic.

Fu issues an ultimatum to the world. Having shown his mastery of water, he asks the world to give in to his demands (which are not detailed for us in the general public). If not, in two weeks he will wreak havoc again. To do this, he decides to settle into Istanbul and use the Black Sea as his personal ice cube tray. But there is a flaw in the program and he needs some assistance from Dr. Heracles (Gustavo Re). But Heracles has a weak heart so Fu needs the assistance of Dr. Curt Kessler (Gunther Stoll) and his assistant Ingrid (Maria Perschy).

But Scotland Yard is not sitting back waiting for the iceman to come. They have sent out Fu Manchu’s perennial nemesis Sir Dennis Nayland Smith (Richard Greene) and his friend Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford). While Smith and Petrie are talking to Kessler, Lin Tang, Fu Manchu’s totally evil and attractive daughter (Tsai Chin) kidnaps Kessler and Ingrid and takes them to Istanbul.

Kessler has been taken to replace Heracles’ heart with that of an able-bodied henchman who is willing to die to the cause. At this point, what little plot the film had seems to have been forgotten. There are useless interludes with various Turkish emissaries, including director Jess Franco in the role of Ahmet.

How bad is this film? I got bored while watching it. I GOT BORED WATCHING CHRISTOPHER LEE!!!!! How does that happen?

IMDB gives it a 2.6 out of 10 rating. As a comparison, I can only say Plan 9 From Outer Space has a 4.0 and Robot Monster has a 2.9. Manos: The Hands of Fate does have a 1.9. Make your own decision there.

The Castle of Fu Manchu did get the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment in 1992. I have not seen that version. I’m sure it will be better than this. You have been warned.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Films: Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

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Hard to believe the producers of this film originally envisioned it as soft-core porn.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 139th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

OK, Halloween is happening in a few days so it must be time for another horror film. And, like last week’s film, I decided to watch a film I had never seen before. From 1970, I chose Count Yorga, Vampire, a film which has a decent reputation and which generated a sequel The Return of Count Yorga the next year.

I’m not sure why I didn’t see this when it was released in May 1970. I was just out of high school, getting ready to head off to The University of Texas in three months. I was working my first job and trying to save money and my girlfriend at the time, the fabulous Christine, was not at all impressed with horror or vampire films. Once at school, I never had much money so my movie trips were infrequent. If they included a date, we went wherever she wanted to go, and horror films were generally not on the bill of fare.

So, to the film.

Donna (Donna Anders) is upset over the recent death of her mother (Marsha Jordan). She has contacted her mother’s most recent boyfriend, Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), a Hungarian mystic who is conducting a séance for Donna, Donna’s boyfriend Michael (Michael Macready, the film’s producer), Donna’s friend Erica (Judy Lang) and her boyfriend Paul (Michael Murphy) plus others. At the séance, Donna gets hysterical and Count Yorga uses hypnosis to calm her down. Unbeknownst to the others, he gives her a telepathic hypnotic suggestion that she will obey and come when he calls.

The original Yorga film inspired this sequel.

Erica and Paul give Yorga a ride to his castle in the L.A. suburbs, and after they drop him off, their VW Microbus gets stranded in a suspicious mud puddle. Stranded, the two lovers do what lovers in remote places in Microbuses with curtains in the early ’70s would do. In the erotic afterglow, Erica hears a noise and finds the ominous figure of Count Yorga peering in. Paul gets out to investigate and is knocked out. Erica enjoys the erotic nature of the vampire.

The next day, a listless Erica is taken by Paul to Dr. James Hayes (Roger Perry), a researcher in blood diseases. A transfusion is required and Hayes notices the two small puncture marks on Erica’s throat.

It’s a small jump to realize that Yorga must be a vampire. Michael and Paul visit Yorga and discuss many things, including vampires. The visit convinces Hayes that Yorga is indeed undead. When Erica vanishes, plans are made to attack the vampire. Little do they know that Yorga has three lovely brides, including Erica and Donna’s mother.

This was a fun film and I enjoyed watching it. Apparently, according to the film’s Wikipedia entry, it was initially supposed to be a soft-core film called The Loves of Count Iorga with lots of nudity and the like, but Robert Quarry would only do the role if it was played as a straight horror film. No nudity, though it could easily have been shot with it. This film carries a PG-13 rating while the sequel was rated R.

I found this in the Edward Hamilton catalog with the sequel for $3.99. The Hamilton catalog is filled with new and remainder books at various prices. I’ve been a customer for about 30 years and ordered many a fine volume from them. More recently, they’ve added audio and video to the books, making for a wonderful browsing experience.

Other websites have the films available at various prices. Find your copies wherever you choose. I will be watching the sequel sometime soon.

Happy Halloween and enjoy the candy!

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.